abdomen

(ab-do'men) [L. abdere, to hide (?).] ABDOMINAL by the diaphragm above and the pelvis below. (Some anatomists include in the abdomen all down to the pelvic floor.) It is lined by a serous membrane, the peritoneum, which also invests the contained viscera. It contains the greater part of the organs of digestion and also the spleen; the kidneys lie behind the peritoneum and are therefore outside the abdominal cavity. The abdomen is divided by arbitrary planes into nine regions see abdominal * regions.; a. obsti'pum [L. obstipus, awry], deformity of the abdomen caused by shortne of the rectus muscle, acute' a., any acute condition within the a. calling for immediate operation, car'inate a. [L. carina, keel of a ship], a sinking at the sides with prominence of the central line of the abdomen, navic'ular or scaph'oid a. [L. navicula, G. skaphe, boat], boat-shaped a., a condition in which the anterior abdominal wall is sunken and presents a concave rather than a convex contour. blood effusion, he moper i to neum. dropsy, ascites, hydrocelia, hydroperitpneum. examination, celioscopy, laparoscopy, abdominoscopy. gas in dat i on, aero per it on i a (outside the intestine) aerenterectasia, tympanites, tympany, meteorism,; flatulence (within the intestine), incision, coeliotomy, laparotomy, gastrotomy.^ Inflammation, coelitis, peritonitis, pain, colic, tormina, celialgia, celiodynia, enteralgia, ileus, gastralgia. puncture, paracentesis abdominis, celioparacentesis. relaxation of walls, pendulous abdomen, cel i och a las is. sinking down of contents, splanchnoptosia, enteroptosia, gastroptosia, GMnard's disease, spasm, tormina, colic, tumor, celioncus, celiophyma. abdom'inal. Relating to the abdomen, a. re'glons, nine regions into which the abdomen is divided by four imaginary lines or planes of these lines; two are horizontal, drawn at the levels of the cartilages of the ninth ribs (subcostal line) and of the crests of the ilia {interiubercular line), respectively, and two are vertical, pa ing through the center of Poupart's ligament on either side. The regions thus mapped out are named, from above downward, right hypochondriac. Abdominal Regions AND Zones, According to the Basle [BNA] Nomenclature. right lumbar (abdominis lateral is [BNA]), and right inguinal or iliac; epigastric, umbilical, and hypogastric or pubic; left hypochondriac, left lumbar (abdominis lateral is [BNA]), and left inguinal or iliac, a. zones, three zones into